Gwenn Seemel
{{Short description|American painter}}
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Gwenn Seemel (born 1981) is an American painter. She paints contemporary portraits and releases her work under free licenses.
Personal life and education
Seemel lives and works in Long Beach Island, New Jersey in the United States.{{cite web|last=Kish|first=Matthew|title=Paint by numbers: Slump forces new focus on sales|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/02/15/focus2.html?page=all|publisher=Portland Business Journal|accessdate=24 December 2012}}
Career
Seemel mainly paints portraits. When she paints a portrait, she takes photographs, for an hour, of the sitter before painting them. The sitter is asked to talk about themselves during the photography session. Seemel creates the painting from the photographs. The paintings consist of "geometric patterns and layers of color." Seemel cites printmaking as an inspiration for her painting technique.{{cite web|last=Cowan|first=KC|title=Portrait Artist Gwenn Seemel|url=http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/826|work=Art Beat|publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|accessdate=24 December 2012|archive-date=14 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130214044458/http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/826|url-status=dead}} Seemel painted a portrait of Randy Leonard in 2009, which was displayed in the Portland City Hall. Campaign money was used to buy the painting.{{cite web|last=Row|first=DK|title=Art for politics' sake|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/03/art_for_politics_sake.html|work=The Stump|date=5 March 2009 |publisher=The Oregonian|accessdate=24 December 2012}} Her 2009 exhibition, "Apple Pie," featured portraits of Superman, Susan B. Anthony and Elvis Presley.{{cite web|last=Row|first=D.K.|title=On view: Gwenn Seemel in Eugene|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2009/05/on_view_gwenn_seemel_in_eugene.html|work=Portland & Oregon Art|date=May 2009 |publisher=The Oregonian|accessdate=24 December 2012}}
In 2010, Seemel partnered with artist Becca Bernstein to create their version of portraits of ten subjects. Subjects included family members and the artists themselves.{{cite web|last=Boule|first=Margie|title=Gwenn Seemel and Becca Bernstein explore the possibilities of portraits|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/margie_boule/index.ssf/2010/01/gwenn_seemel_and_becca_bernste.html|work=Columns|date=10 January 2010 |publisher=The Oregonian|accessdate=24 December 2012}} A 2012 exhibition called "Crime Against Nature," includes paintings of animals that don't fit into the gender binary such as dolphins and squirrels.{{cite web|last=Speer|first=Richard|title=Gwenn Seemel: Crime Against Nature|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/event-130185-gwenn_seemel_crime_against_nature.html|work=Visual Arts|publisher=Willamette Week|accessdate=24 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051910/http://www.wweek.com/portland/event-130185-gwenn_seemel_crime_against_nature.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}
Seemel releases her work under a free license, and encourages the remixing, use, and sharing of her work.{{cite web|last=Maurel|first=Lionel|title=Les Bonnes Recettes du Libre|url=http://owni.fr/2012/05/16/les-bonnes-recettes-du-libre/|publisher=OWNI|accessdate=24 December 2012|language=fr}}{{cite web|last=Doctorow|first=Cory|title=HOWTO make art without getting "ripped off" online|date=11 November 2010 |url=http://boingboing.net/2010/11/11/howto-make-art-witho.html|publisher=Boing Boing|accessdate=24 December 2012}}
See also
References
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External links
- {{Twitter}}
- [http://www.gwennseemel.com/ Official website]
- [http://www.cubfluffer.com/season-1-episode-2-gwenn-seemel.html Interview with Gwenn Seemel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201131401/http://www.cubfluffer.com/season-1-episode-2-gwenn-seemel.html |date=2013-02-01 }} from CubFluffer
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716192427/http://www.tedxgeneva.net/videos/2014-freedom-at-digital-age/in-defense-of-imitation-gwenn-seemel-at-tedxgeneva-2014/] Video excerpt from Gwenn Seemel's TED Geneva 2014 talk "In defense of imitation"
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Category:Open content activists
Category:American contemporary painters
Category:American portrait painters
Category:Artists from Portland, Oregon
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:20th-century American women painters